Jonathan Woodard inflicts things upon the internet

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…And writing this, I feel a little like one of those podcast hosts who opens every other episode with “I promise, we’re working on a ton of great new episodes, but meanwhile here’s one from our archives…”

But I do have a ton of great posts coming your way — a few upcoming posts include “Board Games: Socializing with Purpose”, “The Utility Value of Board Games”, and a couple of tricks from the video game universe about utilizing sleight of hand to (successfully) patch over design challenges. Plus a personal update via multi-post epic about Andrea and my visit to Sweden in December (what? 3 months is a totally reasonable amount of time to write a travelog, right…? 😧).

Things are more generally picking up at Flightless, along a couple of fronts, including some Valour news, another round of testing for Terraformist, and a non-gaming SaaS product about to hit the market; I’ve become the classic case of the engineer who gets too busy building stuff to talk about it!

But here’s a public commitment from me to you — the blog train leaves the station next week on schedule.

Recently my friend Sean Helvey asked me to participate in his upstart podcasting project, BLDRPPL. While he iterates on the exact format, his consistent overarching theme is is “people you admire in Boulder”.

As he and I were discussing the episode I would be on, he asked me to invite someone who fit that criteria. After some deliberation, I decided the person I ought to bring with me was Jared Kohlmann. Jared owns an incredible camera-equipment rental company called Pro Photo Rental, and participated in the GoRuck Challenge with me. All around incredible dude.

We met at the Rapt Media office, and I blabbed at the mic, while everyone else tried to get a word in edgewise. Jared had some incredible insights on life, business, and pushing yourself.

I mentioned BLDRPPL on my podcast rundown two weeks ago, and it’s definitely one I’d recommend going back and starting at the beginning when you jump in (there are only a few episodes yet, so that’s a pretty easy lift… for now).

After a nudge from Andrea, I jumped into Podcasts with both feet. I listen to them at 1.5x speed, so even my brief commute gives ample time to cover quite a bit of ground each week. Here’s a quick rundown on my Podcasts list and why I listen to each:

NPR 7am ET News Summary ~5 minutes long daily, and keeps me more up to speed on: Ukraine/Russia, ISIS, Ferguson, etc. than if I spent lots of time reading news.

The Skinner Co. Network JRD Skinner’s flash fiction, in a cleverly cohesive universe. There’s more, but you’re going to have to listen and follow along to experience it.

BLDRPPL Sean Helvey and Briana May’s freshman podcasting effort takes a tour of the unique Boulder scene. While you’re catching up on back episodes, keep a listen out for the episode I’m featured in!

StarTalk Radio Neil deGrasse Tyson might be one of the most important scientists alive today, a spiritual successor to Carl Sagan as mass-market educator. This podcast is a mix of interviews with celebrities who are also nerds and socratic-style answering of questions culled from the internet.

NPR: TED Radio Hour There have been so many great TED and TEDx talks, it’s almost impossible to keep up with them all. On the radio hour, they combine interviews with speakers with clips from their talks.

Savage Lovecast Dan Savage has been running an advice column in Seattle’s “The Stranger” for years, and offers a really great, progressive view of relationship advice and

Board Game University Famed board game reviewer Tom Vasal interviews board game designers about their successes and failures in the board gaming industry, and asks each to dispense “one piece of advice for an aspiring designer”. Great info as I work on Valour.

StartUp Alex Blumberg, the creative force behind Planet Money and This American Life has set out on his own, and is recording all the details of starting a business that us startup junkies take for granted, but is really refreshing to hear about from the outside.

Two trips to Michigan Stadium this weekend — Saturday for the most insane comeback I’ve ever seen the Wolverines pull off, then again Sunday for the finish of the Big House Big Heart charity 5k. Was hoping to PR there, but thick crowds for the first mile and a half put the kibosh on that plan.